


The Loss of a Nation

by elstarwarslover



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, So much angst, her origin story (see notes)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 05:17:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11890827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elstarwarslover/pseuds/elstarwarslover
Summary: Mei-Ling wakes up to find out everything has changed





	The Loss of a Nation

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so I originally wrote this before the cinematic was released, so all of the information we now have was, well, not available. Because that whole story was pretty well fleshed out, I won't expand on it anymore, but I'll give you this tidbit that I did write. This was originally intended as a 3-chapter piece. And yes, Mei-Ling will have a bigger role in my upcoming stories, I promise.

Dr. Mei-Ling Zhou hardly even noticed that she had woken up.  The only visible light in the room came from the dim red lights along the floor, which were powered by the backup generator.  Of course this meant that the main generator had died, which wasn’t a huge issue except that the rescue party should have fixed it on the way in.

The next thing Mei-Ling noticed was that she was incredibly stiff.  Abnormally stiff, even for waking up from cryo treatment.  The rescue team should also have taken the proper measures to ensure that she would only wake up long after she had thawed, and that she would have her full range of motion when she did.

As she thought about it, she realized that she shouldn’t have been upright either; proper protocol instructed cryonics staff to have their patients wake up laying down, more out of comfort than anything.  So if the rescue team hadn’t repaired the generator, thawed her properly, or found her a bed, what exactly had they done?  Athena could have done the same job that they— _ oh _ .

_ So there isn’t a rescue team here.  Okay.  That’s okay.  But why am I awake? _

Mei-Ling waited another half-hour, maybe a full hour—it was hard to tell without a visible clock in the room— before trying to move again.  This time, she found her body more responsive, so she pushed the cryo chamber door open and stepped out.

“Good morning, Dr. Zhou.”  Mei-Ling nearly jumped out of her skin before she realized that it was Athena speaking to her.

“Good morning, Athena!  Would you mind telling me the date and time?”  Mei-Ling stretched her still-numb limbs and began looking into the cryo pods around her.  Her peers still seemed to be frozen or asleep.

“I’m afraid that data is unavailable.  My sincerest apologies.”

“That’s all right I suppose.  Do you know how long until everyone else wakes up?”

“No data available.”  Mei-Ling hesitated; there were only a handful of reasons that Athena wouldn’t know when the others were waking up, and each was worse than the last.  

“Athena, why don’t you know the date?”  It wasn’t the question she wanted to ask, not really, but it would do until she could work up the courage to ask her real question.

“My communications devices failed at least one year ago, on October 16, 2068.”  Her mouth went dry almost immediately.  Years had passed since the team had sent out a distress signal and frozen themselves in cryo-stasis.  Which meant no one had come to save them.  Overwatch had left them to die.

“Athena,” Mei-Ling started, then stopped again.  She already knew the answer to her question; her many years spent studying the world’s climate had taught her to put together evidence as quickly as possible.  And although she knew her hypothesis was strong, this was one time that all she could do was hope against hope that she was incorrect.  “Why can’t you tell me when our team is going to wake up?”

“I’m so sorry, Dr. Zhou.  You are the only member of the team who is still alive.”  Mei-Ling heard a sob in what sounded like her own voice; it sounded strange and distant, as if by pretending that it was some other person crying, her subconscious could protect her from the reality that she had just [inherited].  But it wasn’t some other person who was crying, and it wasn’t some other person who had just learned of the deaths of her closest friends.  It was her.

“Athena?”  Mei-Ling began, her voice shaking.  “Is it—”  An unexpected sob cut her off, but she forced herself to continue.  “Is it possible that your sensors have malfunctioned?  That they are still alive in there?”

“I’m afraid not, Dr. Zhou—”

“Don’t call me that!  I am no doctor.  I don’t deserve the title.”

“Of course you do.  You completed your doctoral thesis on climate change on September 3, 2061 and were awarded your doctorate of philosophy degree by the Universtiy of Numbani later that year.”

“My team!  My team are doctors, scientists, engineers, I’m just—”

“An incredible researcher whose papers on global climate change led to the recognition of an as-yet unidentified accelerant influencing global warming?  Who put together a multinational task-force including adversaries from centuries-old political conflicts on her own?”

“I’m not even the project lead!  I’m an assistant at best!”

“Dr. Adams may have been the official leader of this team, but you were the one who did all of the work.  Do not think that went unnoticed.”  

Mei-Ling paused to consider.  She didn’t want to understate her work, but even still, to say that she was primarily responsible for the work the team had done?  It was preposterous.  Athena did have a point, though.  She did do a lot of the work, but only because it was important, not because she wanted the glory of the position.

“Okay, okay, okay.  I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to question your judgment.”

“That’s quite all right, Dr. Zhou.  You’ve had a difficult morning.”

The room fell silent, leaving Mei-Ling to consider her position.  With the exception of Athena, she was alone.  Loneliness was a devastating feeling, and it got stronger with each passing moment, until an idea struck her.

“Athena?”  Without waiting for a response, Mei-Ling continued, “Is it possible to bring them back to life?  We have the technology to revive them, right?”

“No and yes.  We do have the technology to revive the recently-deceased, thanks to the work of Dr. Angela Ziegler, but I was ordered to devote all resources to your continued survival.”  There was a short pause, then Athena began again, “And in any case, your teammates have been gone for too long for that technology to work effectively.”

“Excuse me?”  Mei-Ling bit back her rage.  “And why is that?”

“My orders were to prolong your life for as long as possible in the event of an emergency.  If this meant I had to cut off support for other team members, I was given a specific order in which to do so.  But only today did I calculate that your best chance of survival would be if you were awake.  My power reserves now indicate that you have eighteen days left until power cuts off completely; your food reserves will last about the same amount of time.  Before that happens you must find a way to contact a nearby Watchpoint or to prolong my energy reserves.  I recommend that you start with Engineer MacReady’s notes in the engineering wing; to my understanding, she was working on a parting gift for you that may be modified to suit our needs.”

Mei-Ling sighed.  She and MacReady had grown particularly close over the years they had worked together, and Mei-Ling had often lay awake at night wondering if MacReady felt the same way.  When the storm began, though, their relationship took a nosedive; Mei-Ling insisted that they would see each other again, but MacReady refused to entertain the idea.  According to her, even if they did survive, they would likely be separated for bureaucratic reasons.  Of course, none of that mattered anymore.  Mei-Ling took one last look at MacReady’s inactive cryo pod, then headed toward the engineering wing, where she kept all of her works in progress.


End file.
